Alfred Waddington

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Alfred Waddington

Alfred Penderell Waddington (born October 2, 1801 in Brompton , † February 26, 1872 in Ottawa ) was a British politician , author and businessman . He was active in the colony of Vancouver Island , which later became part of the province of British Columbia .

Early years

Waddington first attended schools in England, later a Paris school and then studied at the University of Göttingen . In 1850 he went to California and became a member of a wholesaling partnership. In 1858 he came to Victoria on Vancouver Island . Although the Fraser Canyon gold rush had just peaked, Waddington was not interested in prospecting for gold. Instead, he wanted to revive the settlement in the colony and wrote Fraser Mines Vindicated , the first book ever published in the colony of Vancouver Island, but not by the government. In 1860 Waddington was elected to the House of Representatives with a program for religious equality and women's rights, which he left again in 1861. The following year he helped draft the Victoria's charter but declined to become its first mayor .

Waddington's railway line

From 1862 Waddington campaigned with the press and his political allies for a railway line from Bute Fjord to Fort Alexandria , where it would merge into Cariboo Road and lead to the gold fields of Barkerville (see Cariboo Gold Rush ). It received applause for the early construction in 1863. In the spring of 1864, when the Chilcotin heard of plans to build a route through the Homathko River area, they feared violations of the law on their territory and the increased threat of smallpox . Eight Chilcotin led by Klatsassin therefore attacked one of Waddington's labor camps, killing fourteen workers. The line was never completed because of the war. Although it was later considered as one of the possible routes for the main route of the Canadian Pacific Railway , the railway chose Burrard Inlet .

School council

In 1865, Waddington became a Vancouver Island School Councilor. When Vancouver Island merged with British Columbia in 1866 to form the United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia , this office was no longer relevant. In 1867 Waddington resigned and the remainder of the school board decided to close all schools on Vancouver Island. In 1868 the entire school council resigned in protest against the new government's attitude towards public schools.

In the meantime, Waddington had not forgotten the Bute Fjord and was campaigning for a transcontinental rail route along the old route. He was fighting for his plans in Ottawa when he died of smallpox.

Places named after Waddington

See also

Web links

literature

  • Judith Williams: High Slack. Waddington's Gold Road and the Bute Inlet Massacre of 1864. New Star Books, Vancouver 1996, ISBN 0-921586-45-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ viu.ca
  2. ^ Alfred Penderell Waddington ( Memento of May 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ greatcanadianrivers.com
personal data
SURNAME Waddington, Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Waddington, Alfred Penderell (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian politician, author and businessman
DATE OF BIRTH October 2, 1801
PLACE OF BIRTH Brompton
DATE OF DEATH February 26, 1872
Place of death Ottawa